This morning I weighed myself. I haven’t done this for a couple of months. This morning standing naked I weighed 80.2 kg (or 176 lb for my friends in the USA). Since about Easter I’ve felt myself thickening a little. At the beginning of the year I was about 76 kg. At Easter I was suffering from ManFlu and then had an ankle problem which meant exercising was not a high priority for me. Coupled with some more extravagant eating it should come as no surprise that I’ve got over 80 kg.
I really need to stop eating so much, exercise more and watch what I’m eating. This last week has been a little out of control. Let’s take a look.
Now we need to remember I started the week with the ham hock (which was delicious). I also experienced my birthday (and much of Bron’s generosity). Finally I had one of the best quick meals I’ve ever had last night [click on the links for the images in the posts].
So in between I also ate pretty well.
Roast belly pork
Yes, I ate all that to myself and there was nothing left over.
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Friday morning signalled my last Friday working in the department so I had my last Friday Mavi breakfast wrap.
This doesn’t mean my last Mavi breakfast wrap, just the last one on a Friday. From next Friday I start working as a Visiting Medical Officer in Pathology at The Canberra Hospital every Friday.
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On Friday night I was late at work and so that means takeaway
Before I went to see GI Joe Retaliation I needed lunch. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone. I loved the movie. It’s well worth watching if you like ninja action, guns, heavy machines and very athletic looking actors. I will definitely purchase the DVD when its available.
If you click on any image in this post you’ll see the IG comments made by my IG friends. Some are pretty funny.
It’s autumn
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Mr Owl
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New speed dampening cushions have been installed on local streets. I’m not a fan of them. I am a supporter of better road safety.
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Saturday’s early morning clouds
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Mr Owl this morning. Beautiful blue sky.
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An abandoned car outside the local cop shop
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On a depressing note, my footy teams have not done so well this weekend. The Brisbane Broncos were defeated by South Sydney. The Reds drew their game. The Melbourne Storm were defeated by the Canberra Raiders. So very very sad…
Thursday night saw Bron invite a couple of dear friends over to her place for dinner. The theme was Mexican, that is, the food theme, we didn’t do any Mexican hat dancing or tequila drinking.
For an entrée Bron made corn chips with a David Lebovitz guacamole, salsa and sour cream. Bron made the corn chips from tortillas and they were amazing. They were tasty, crunchy and light. The guacamole and salsa were fantastic. I watched Bron make some of each and had the pleasure of tasting it along the way. I could’ve eaten corn chips all night.
It looks like I had a lot of sour cream. It just seemed to spread across the plate (honestly).
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For the main course Bron made a David Lebovitz chicken with chocolate mole sauce. The mole sauce amongst other ingredients contained ancho chili peppers, onions, various herbs, tomatoes, pepper, and unsweetened chocolate. The sauce had a nice kick to it but it wasn’t an unpleasant heat that some chillies have. While Bron and our friends enjoyed wine with their meal I found pineapple juice to be an excellent accompaniment to the spicy flavours.
Chicken chocolate mole
This is the chicken covered in the chocolate mole sauce. No I did not eat all of this.
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This is my plate with a tortilla in the making and the chicken ready to be shredded. I only ate one tortilla
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My tortilla. It was delicious. What you won’t see is how much chicken I ate after finishing this.
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I remember on a trip to Mexico City enjoying enchiladas and mole sauce. I blogged about it and one of my work friends was horrified that I’d eaten a mole (as in the blind mammal that lives underground). I laugh and laugh every time I think of that.
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For dessert Bron made a David Lebovitz ginger cake plus some home made non-churn cherry and white chocolate ice cream
Doesn’t it look amazing? The ice cream was creamy and delicious. You wouldn’t know it was not churned. The cake had a lovely kick of ginger and a hint of pepper. It was brilliant. Bron is such a magnificent cook.
For the last week I’ve been eating more meals as wraps. My week in Instagram shows it in graphic detail I’m not sure why I’ve turned to wraps this week. Instagram followers will be familiar with my love of the Mavi Breakfast Wrap over the last 18 months.
I decided on Friday I was so going to make a version of Hilah’s sausage wrap because my version from Thursday night was crap in comparison. I split my snag and added onion.
I did the onions in the afternoon. I needed three large brown onions, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of brown sugar and a two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. I spent about an hour softening the onions with the oil and a good pinch of salt. I then added the sugar and vinegar and stirred regularly for another hour. It turned into a lovely gooey mess of happiness. I also added a little curry powder and smoked paprika for flavour.
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On Monday evening Bron came over for dinner and inspired by Hilah I made a sausage and onion wrap.
Bron brought over some caramelised onion she bought at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I cooked the sausages like Hilah did in her video and made the wrap. The bread I bought even came with little paper pocket bags.
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The best part of the evening though was that Bron brought over some of her home made macarons and non-churn ice cream. The flavours were orange and cardamon and lemon curd ice creams. The macarons where chocolate with chocolate popping candy ganache and lemon curd.
This dessert was amazingly good. Bron is a genius in the kitchen and a genius in general (yes her IQ is off the charts)
On Friday night Bron and I had dinner at Sanur’s in Belconnen. It’s on Emu Bank near the Belconnen Arts Centre.
We’ve eaten here a few times before and enjoyed ourselves. From the images from that meal you can see why for me it’s always difficult to go past a deep friend whole snapper. There’s just something special about a whole fish dish.
The service is best described as friendly and quaint. Nothing is too difficult but sometimes I’m not sure all that is said is understood. My guess is that part of the accoutrements of this restaurant are sourced from Bali. I say this because in the toilets (rest rooms for my North American friends and the Dunny for my school mates) the hand dryers are not made for the Australian electrical system, they use UK pins. Sadly the rest rooms also do not have a paper or cloth towel option, just the underwhelming and underpowered air dryer. I’ve mentioned on this blog before the standard for air dryers is the Dyson Air Blade. Anything less is not adequate.
Okay, back to the food which the most important aspect of any restaurant experience.
For an entrée we shared the Udang Goreng Tepung ($10.90) [King prawns in spiced, crispy coconut batter served with cucumber relish (4 pieces)]. This was pretty good. The prawns were really tasty and the cucumber relish refreshing. I found my prawns a little tough; slightly over cooked. The restaurant was busy and the prawns looked like a popular dish from what I saw around me. The coconut batter was really nice and the subtle taste of coconut was very pleasant.
For mains we asked for the Panggang Iga Kambing ($24.90) (available for dinner only) [Char grilled marinated lamb cutlets served with sambal kecap] and the Ikan Balado/Udang Balado/Cumi Balado ($28.90) [Deep fried of whole fish served with padangnese style mild chilli sauce]. The lamb cutlets were divine. They were succulent, tasty and the dipping sauce really gave off a fantastic aroma. The fish was okay. It was good as a fish dish but you know you really need to be okay with bones. Nearly every mouthful has bones in it and unless you like swallowing bones careful mastication is the order of the day. Being deep friend it meant the bones in the head and tail were edible. I ate through most of the head and tried valiantly to consume the head without putting off Bron. I refrained from making sucking noises as I ate the eyes and crunched on the head bones. The tail was amazing. There was quite a lot of garlic in the dish which was really nice given I haven’t eaten much garlic of late.
We also had some Roti Pratha (V) ($5.00) (2 pieces) [Indonesian style bread, good accompaniment for curries] to eat instead of rice.
Sanur’s
Sorry the lighting wasn’t good for iPhone photography.
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Entrée prawns
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Main fish
Main fish close up
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Main lamb
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As we left Sanur’s we walked past a small Chinese restaurant named 2 Yummy BBQ Noodle House
I had a waffle with chocolate and Bron had a chocolate lick (no picture of Bron licking chocolate sorry)
Waffle
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While we both enjoyed the meal at Sanur’s it was a fairly salty experience and something sweet and chocolate flavoured was necessary. Max Brenner was a very suitable solution to our desires.
Sanur’s is a very worthwhile restaurant for a nice meal. The eating area is cosy and warm. Sanur’s is popular with families and there were a few babies in prams on the floor on Friday night. The food comes out in good time, not too quickly and not too late. The wait staff are friendly and always very accommodating of requests for more water and changes in food requests. The restaurant is also close enough to Westfield Belconnen and the Hoyts Cinema complex that an early meal followed by an easy walk and movie is pretty convenient. Alternatively, on a Friday evening, an early meal can be followed with some late night shopping at Westfield Belconnen.
At a later date I want to share with you my rating system based on the presence or absence of cloth napkins. Just a hint, I really think a restaurant that uses cloth napkins is a better quality restaurant.
This has been a fantastic Easter weekend. For my non-Australian friends; in Australia we get the Good Friday and the following Monday as public holidays. It’s one of the best public holiday long weekends we have.
It all started on Thursday afternoon and coincided with my manifestation of #ManFlu I shared a classic YouTube video on #ManFlu in my Mamak in Haymarket post from a few days ago. Every time I get a head cold I end up with rigors and sinusitis and I feel like death warmed up.
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On Thursday evening Bron cooked dinner.
Bron’s stir fry
This was delicious
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Bron cooked hot cross buns on Thursday evening
Hot cross buns
I so wanted one that I pestered Bron to break one off and share one on Thursday evening
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On Friday morning we had hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
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On the drive to Sydney for the weekend we stopped at Goulburn for a toilet stop and a break
MaltEaster
These won’t roll down the aisle of a picture theatre lol
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On arriving in Sydney we had to work out how to find and park near our hotel. We chose to stay at the Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments (on 243 Pyrmont Street Darling Harbour NSW 2009). Originally built in 1883, The Oaks Goldsbrough was Sydney’s original Goldsbrough-Mort Wool store. Maintaining many historical features, such as the ironbark columns and tallow-wood flooring, The Oaks Goldsbrough Apartment Hotel combines the facilities and service of a modern hotel with the privacy and spaciousness of a fully self-contained apartment. At first I thought it was an old gaol but then tweeps were telling me about the building’s history.
Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments
I really enjoyed my stay here. It was a relatively quiet well appointed apartment. The kitchen is spacious and well equipped except there was no oven. The microwave oven was a little dated and old. The bathroom/laundry was pretty good too. A little more storage and bench space would have been handy. The lounge area was fine with a big screen television, cable television connection and a DVD player that also accepted USB drives. The bedroom was fine except there wasn’t a set of drawers just very tall wardrobes.
On Saturday morning we enjoyed the last of the hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
Bron’s butter with some bun
Bron claims this is a misrepresentation lol
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The plan for the day was to go shopping in Rhodes and visit Ikea.
Morning iced coffee
I was feeling pretty poorly and thought a hot coffee would make me nauseated. The iced coffee alternative was not too bad.
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I went in wanting to buy a cabinet for my kitchen equipment
Ikea purchases
I bought a heap of other things too
I also brought back a catalogue for a work mate
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Of course no visit to Ikea is complete without a meal of Swedish meatballs, Lingonberries, mashed potato and gravy.
Lunch
I chose a medium plate. Quite a number of tweeps and Facebook friends asked questions about horse meat. Ikea in Australia has declared their meat balls to be horse meat free.
I tried some Swedish festive drink. My #ManFlu was so bad I couldn’t tell it was sweet.
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Enjoying a meat ball
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In the evening as my #ManFlu was peaking at its worst we went to dinner at Rockpool on George. I blogged about this a couple of nights ago. It was an amazing dinner. It was so good. Rather than repeat the food images I’d encourage you to read the post. I’ll simply insert here an image of the afternoon.
Sydney Opera House
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On Sunday morning I woke up feeling pretty ordinary. We had planned to attend the Sydney Royal Easter Show 2013. The tickets also included public transport. We got off to an okay start and caught a train from Town Hall station and alighted at Homebush. We should have alighted at Olympic Park. This created a slight delay and a delay in accessing caffeine which was our most pressing need. We eventually got to the show grounds and found coffee and food.
Bacon and egg roll with a coffee
As far as shows are concerned and for my USA friends these are like County fairs I imagine, my all time favourite is The Ekka http://www.ekka.com.au/ in Brisbane every August. The next best is the Royal Darwin Show. http://www.darwinshow.com.au/ The Sydney one is also pretty good and given its proximity to Camberra (3 hours drive) it’s a good option for me at the moment.
Wood chopping as a sport started in Australia. My favourite events are the underhand, tree felling and the relay. What we noticed on Sunday was the unusual number of competitors who failed to finish. We hope there wasn’t something wrong with them. Given Australian axe men are also known for the drinking, I just hope they were hung over rather than ill or not up to the competition.
At any show I love looking at animals, produce and cake decorating. Rather than spend the day capturing images we simply enjoyed walking around looking at things. Some things though did need to be captured.
This year’s biggest pumpkin (618 kilograms)
This years smallest pumpkin
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Dog showing
Is that the best suit you’ve ever seen or what?
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For lunch we had chair sui bao
Barbecue pork buns
We ate these while in the main arena watching moto-X
We started feeling weary after the Flyball and decided to leave. The train journey into the city was uneventful.
For dinner we decided to walk around Darling Harbour and look for a place to eat. I had a hankering for some meat. We came across Braza Churrascaria and walked in. We were seated at a table and the protocol explained. This is not the sort of place that you can photograph everything. The wait staff walk around with trays of meat and serve it onto your plate. It’s basically all the meat you can eat.
Later in the evening was went to the IMAX theatre and watched Top Gun in 3D. A great movie in terms of scenes of fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. The Darling Harbour LG IMAX theatre bills itself as the biggest and the best in the world. I have no idea if this is true.
After the last blog post last weekend I finished with an image of chicken schnitzel. Here it is cooked with some fried eggs. Yum comfort food.
Chicken high schnitzel with fried eggs
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On Sunday morning I had breakfast with Bron and we went to Black Pepper for Eggs Benedict.
I always ask for more Hollandaise sauce
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I went to work on Sunday to catch up on some work. Fortunately I had a snack there.
An extreme chocolate whoopie
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From my garden
I do nothing to the garden bed in my apartment. I do not even add water and look at what grows.
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Sunday night dinner of salmon salad
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Monday was a public holiday. I visited Bron and we had her homemade hot cross buns
These were really good. I had two and lots of butter.
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After another day at work on a public holiday I made chicken salad
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Tuesday night I felt a little blergh and just made chicken and potato gems (tater tots)
I felt better after eating this.
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Bron has been busy making macarons. Look at these babies. Salted caramel, rose water and vanilla.
A salted caramel maracon.
This is the best salted caramel macaron I’ve ever tasted. These were so good. I love the way the flavours change as I bit into them and then as my tongue made contact.
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My personal passport expires in about eight months. It is easier to renew it before it expires. I pick up my new one in a couple of weeks.
Most of the travel I do is for work and for that I use an official passport. My current personal passport expires in January 2014. Given a passport cannot be used for the last six months of its ‘life’ and because renewing a current passport is many orders of magnitude easier than renewing an expired passport, I thought it was time.
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Nothing beats a sausage roll for a quick lunch
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It was nice having a WIZZ FIZZ lollipop
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Thursday morning treat from Bron
Now this is the morning after the meal at Morks so I wasn’t that hungry but who can resist macarons.
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It was Jacqui’s birthday at work. We didn’t our usual Pay day Pie day, instead we had a burger. You may recall Jacqui from last week’s post.
This is an Urban Cheese. It is a cheeseburger from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. It has an Angus beef pattie, tasty cheese, bacon, fried egg and beetroot. The chips came with homemade mayonnaise.
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I just had a salad for dinner
Followed with macarons
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Mmm…Friday morning rituals. Mavi Breakfast wrap. This one was amazingly good.
The owner made this one and we reckon he put in more bacon and mushrooms.
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Hot chip Friday lunch of course
You’d think I would have had enough of these but no.
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Saturday morning breakfast
This was a mistake. We had breakfast at Gourmet Deli in Belconnen Westfield shopping centre. This place has great coffee and is a fantastic delicatessen. This breakfast was a little too ‘greasy’.
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For dinner on Saturday night I was at Bron’s place. Bron has been thinking of making Jamie Oliver’s Yorkshire puddings again. She’d made them a little over a year ago and we blogged about it.
Here are some very short video sequences of the puddings being poured and rising in the oven. I have uploaded them on Vine but don’t know how to embed Vine into this blog so I’ve embedded YouTube uploads.
It’s very hard to describe just how nice it is to have the tangy trout and horseradish along with the crisp fresh fluffy pudding
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Dinner is served
It looks great doesn’t it?
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Bite sized morsels of happiness
This is perfection between my fingers
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Oh yeah there was a pear and walnut salad
This added a lovely touch
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Dessert was Bron’s amazing sticky date pudding with butterscotch and custard
This is I think Bron’s signature dessert. No one makes it better. The butterscotch sauce is to die for. The custard is perfect. The ice cream was Madagascan Vanilla Bean.
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Sunday breakfast was simple and in two stages
Poached eggs are so yummy
Check it out. Hot homemade hot cross bun.
I hope you agree this looked so good. It tasted better.
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After a walk today I needed a snack.
Australian Havarti cheese on toast
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For dinner tonight I made some honey soy salmon and a salad.
I like the sweetness of mixing honey with soy on the hot fry pan and reducing it.
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For dessert Bron gave me some of her sticky date pudding.
It was a nice big piece with extra butterscotch sauce and custard. This was just so good.
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So ends this post.Thank you for reading this and going through my instagram experience. I’d also invite you to view my Facebook page and if you like it please click the LIKE button. Thanks.
I hope everyone has a great week at work. I know I’ve been finding my new role a challenge and it seems there is a lot of fatigue around not just in my workplace but from what I hear and read around the place. I hope everyone finds balance in their life. Take care. Live long and prosper.
On a good note, the Brisbane Broncos defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons this week and the Gold Coast Titans defeated the Canberra Raiders. It was unfortunate that the Melbourne Storm defeated the North Queensland Cowboys. I don’t feel that bad though because Melbourne are my number four team. For those who don’t know me well my top four teams in the National Rugby League are 1. Brisbane Broncos, 2. North Queensland Cowboys, 3. Gold Coast Titans, and 4. The Melbourne Storm. For Soccer it’s the Brisbane Roar. For the Australian Football League it’s the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns. For cricket it’s the Queensland Bulls. For Rugby it’s the Queensland Reds. For State of Origin it is the Queensland XXXX Maroons. One day I’ll reveal the teams I detest.
Friday of my holiday started slowly. Mum and Dad slept in and I watched a couple of episodes of The walking Dead series 3 on my iPad. We went grocery shopping for dinner and other things. The girls would be arriving that afternoon and I was cooking dinner. It’s been such a long time since I’ve cooked them dinner. They each love salmon so that was a natural choice. Bro41 was coming over with his three kids too so I had ten to feed.
At lunch time Mum and Dad introduced me to one of their staples, Knackwurst on toast. Given recent snag stand adventures, a snag on a Friday seemed to make sense.
Knackwurst with barbecue sauce on toast.
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Friday afternoon grew dark with rain clouds.
Dark rain clouds.
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It didn’t take long for it to rain.
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Between Mum and me, we made coleslaw, a simple lettuce and tomato salad, sausages, salmon, eggs and prawns. The sausages were mainly for my nephew and nieces who can be a little particular.
My plate. The girls loved dinner and having Dad cook for them. They loved the salmon.
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There is not much better than an old fashioned bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocmint ice cream magic and a chocolate wafer.
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Saturday morning arrived and we made ready for a day at Dreamworld in Coomera in the Gold Coast.
We had a left over baguette from Friday night and I made the girls vegemite bites.
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We got to Dreamworld and the first ride we wanted to ride was the Buzz saw.
The tigers at Dreamworld are a great attraction. Here is a short clip of two of them having a little fun with each other.
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The gates closed at Dreamworld at 1700 AEST. We went and had another go of the Tower of Terror II.
After Dreamworld we checked into the Mantra Broadbeach on the Park. We reserved a two bedroom apartment. It is a well set out apartment and we’re very comfortable.
It’s been an interesting week. Nothing much has happened with that piece of public art that I’ve posting about on Instagram. The weather has improved out of sight. It’s finally warming up in Canberra and while there have been some hot and dry days, the humidity hasn’t been as low as in past years. I know it’s only early but I really hope we have a warm and moist Summer in Canberra. Unlikely I know in Canberra but I live in hope.
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This image was captured on Monday morning. Since then nothing much has happened. I noticed some cabling so I assume there will be lighting at night for the piece.
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On Friday it was announced that I would change roles. From Monday I will be the Specialist Medical Adviser in Health Emergency Management in the Office of Health Protection. I will then no longer be the Assistant Secretary of the Health Emergency Management Branch.
My areas of interest and activities will continue to align with my specialist medical and healthcare management experience in pathogen security, CBRN medical countermeasures, the health aspects of national security, and health emergency management. This should be a good move for me. I get to focus on the areas I am best suited for. I will miss managing people but the best thing is I still work my same work mates.
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My weight has been much the same for the last week. I haven’t been losing any weight although I’ve maintained the walking and trying to avoid snacking. Snacking though is a perennial problem when surrounded by amazing work friends who bring in treats and have special morning and afternoon tea sessions.
I’ve also been receiving encouragement from some Twitter friends who have been reminding me that my diet lacks vegetables and has too much processed food in it.
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Toasted tomato sandwich on quinoa and flaxseed bread. No cheese and no processed meat
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A work friend has a house mate who works in a bakery and we were blessed with free pastries. This is a chocolate filled butter-rich pastry.
To celebrate the rain I had salmon and potato gems.
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More celebration food. Neenish tarts and cream. This is it. No more Neenish tarts.
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Wednesday was really busy and a long day at work. I didn’t feel like cooking so I got takeaway from the local shops in the Jamison Plaza.
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I love battered fish and potato scallops that have been hand made like these were.
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We had a full moon this week. I need to cut back on the light and use a faster shutter speed.
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On Thursday a work friend brought in morning tea. I had a chocolate caramel fudge brownie and a Queensland nut shortbread biscuit.
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At lunch time I went to the local shops with a friend and bought some Pâté, bread and butter. Then three of us shared this for lunch. The Pâté was by Maggie Beer, I bought two types, viz., duck, sherry, and green peppercorn and duck, vino cotto, and star anise. The butter was from Tasmania. The bread was fresh and it all tasted delicious.
We’re thinking of doing it again and getting quince paste too.
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That night I only wanted a light dinner. Floured chicken thigh and potato gems.
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The moon over Lake Ginninderra. I need to cut back on the light and use a faster shutter speed.
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Friday lunch started out as toasted pumpkin seed bread and tomato.
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But then I got told about my job change and thought I needed more food This is a cheesy bacon pie and lime quench. The pie was really nice. The beef is chunky and very tender. These are made in the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
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For dinner to make up for the lack of vegetables this week I made some coleslaw and cooked a piece of salmon with it.
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This morning I went for a walk in shorts and T-shirt. It was lovely and warm. The sky was full of dark clouds. The leaves on the trees are so green.
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The Owl statue, known to me as Mr Owl, looked spooky with the swirling clouds behind him.
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Today for lunch I had some toasted light rye sourdough bread topped with a mixture of avocado, tomato, Tabasco sauce, chilli flakes and pepper corns.
It looks disgusting but it tasted good.
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I opened my Instacanvas recently. I don’t know why. I just did it for the sake of it I think.
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In terms of the CPAP business I visited the CPAP technician and had my last three weeks analysed through the software associated with the machine. While I still feel worse than before and always tired it appears I get a good seal, the pressures are good and I don’t need to change from nasal pillows or add a chin strap.
So I hope you had a good week. Let me know about it, write a comment below. Eat well, sleep well and be nice to everyone.
I travelled to Darwin on Wednesday for meetings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday afternoon when I arrived I was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s (ABC) Mick Coggan on my memories from ten years ago and what has happened in my career since then. This Friday, 12 October, we will remember the people killed and the people injured after terrorists detonated bombs in Bali. I hope on Friday I will blog about my memories from 10 years ago.
I’ve not seen nor listened to any of the recordings. I’ve been told by work mates, my parents and friends on Twitter that I came across okay.
On the Thursday I co-chaired a national governments meeting which went well. It was held at the Royal Darwin Hospital. My old hospital from 1996 to 2007. Whenever I visit the RDH I soak in the atmosphere and the changes. I love that hospital.
I was also in Darwin for the War and Disaster 2012 conference. The meeting consisted of a dinner on Thursday night, a clinical teaching symposium on Friday and a clinical conference on Saturday. On the Saturday afternoon a public forum had also been planned. I attended all the functions.
On the Wednesday evening however, I took my work colleagues to the Hanuman restaurant in Mitchell Street. This is a famous restaurant in Darwin known for its fusion of Thai, Indian and Chinese cuisines. Its signature dish is the Hanuman oysters. I suggested we enjoy the oysters, Pandang chicken, red curry duck, a whole fish and some Chinese pork belly. My colleagues and I really enjoyed the meal. The lighting in the restaurant is not conducive to photography with an iPhone so I have not posted any high quality images here (just a poor image of the oysters and the fish). The oysters are always good. They are done in a multi-welled terracotta dish with little terracotta lids over each well. The oysters are steamed in lime, lemon grass and coriander. If you ever venture to Darwin and dine at the Hanuman I will always recommend the Hanuman oysters.
Hanuman oysters
This was the fish after we had finished. Yes I ate the eyes. I did it discretely to not upset my work mates.
The Thursday dinner was held in the Darwin Convention Centre (if you use iOS6 Apple maps will send you to the wrong place) in the Darwin Waterfront Precinct. We enjoyed speeches by the new Chief Minister, Mr Terry Mills and former Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, OM AC. We were entertained by Kamahl. My friend Robyn Cahill also sang. Previously at a RDH review Robyn coaxed me and some other senior clinicians onto a stage to do YMCA. Unfortunately photographs recently surfaced. I will not be posting them here. If you’re curious I was the Native American.
The dinner itself was very good. We enjoyed a mixed cold entrée of salmon, chicken and beef. For a main meal I was fortunate enough to enjoy an incredibly well cooked rib eye fillet steak. Dessert was a mix of small and light pastries which were delightful. By the end I was hanging out for a cup of tea.
On Friday the clinical symposium was held at the RDH in the auditorium. I hadn’t been in there for years. I had forgotten the place had virtually no 3G signal. I was without communication with the office which wasn’t good. The symposium itself was excellent. I learnt so much. It was good to be immersed in a clinical milieu. I felt at home not only because I was in Darwin at RDH but because I was sitting amongst clinicians. I understood what was being put up on the screen. I didn’t doubt myself and have to question myself like I do when seated in policy presentations or budget discussions. Having just spent five years in my current job it was remarkable how comfortable and happy I felt being surrounded by clinical discussion and thinking.
At lunch time I did something I haven’t done for more than five years. In 2003 I weighed about 100 kilograms. I was very heavy for my height. I decided I needed to lose weight rapidly so I could begin exercising again. I chose a high protein and low carbohydrate way of life. My lunches often consisted of meat, just meat alone. On Friday I lined up at the hospital canteen and asked for a small serving of pork belly. I used to do that every day. I’m the sort of person who enjoys repeating old habits. I like nostalgia. This made me happy.
A small serving of pork belly to relive old memories when I lost a lot of weight.
That evening after a very stimulating day I attended a reception at the NT’s Parliament House for the opening of a small photographic art exhibition to remember the ten years since the Bali bombings. As far as formal receptions go it was pretty good. The nice thing about Darwin is the recognition that the usual formalities can be modified. The appropriate attire for such an event in the presence of the NT Minister for Health is Territory Rig. That is long trousers, a long sleeve shirt and a neck tie. Very simple. Unfortunately the Governor of Bali could not be present. The exhibition was opened by Hon. David Tollner and Dr Wayan Sutarga the President Director of Sanglah Hospital. Dr Sutarga is a real character. He was in charge of the hospital for the first and second Bali bombings. He has done an enormous amount of work for the hospital and has worked with Australians like Dr Len Notaras, AM and Colin McDonald, QC to cement a strong bond between Darwin and Bali.
After the reception I had a hankering for some fish and chips. I wanted Barramundi.
Barra and chips
The Saturday clinical conference was held at the Darwin Conference Centre, it was a long day. We registered at 0745 ACST and didn’t finish until after 1800 ACST. It was a very good day. Many of my friends presented. Some relived the events of ten years ago and others looked at changes in their specialty areas. Given I had moved from the NT government to the Australian Government I presented the changes that had occurred in the Department of Health and Ageing and how we have evolved into a better prepared area for health protection matters.
I got in early and captured this image before all the seats filled up.
The afternoon’s public forum was inspiring. Julian Burton, OAM spoke about his experiences as a victim of the Bali bombings. Sally Sara, AM spoke about being an ABC journalist in war zones and gave her perspective on the importance of telling stories so that Australia as a nation can know what is happening in places where reporting is not encouraged and journalists are often in danger by the kinetic forces of war.
On Saturday night I was invited to dinner by Len Notaras to Char Restaurant at Admiralty House on the corner of Knuckey Street and The Esplanade. I’d eaten here once before for a work related lunch. The venue is delightful. The food is sublime. The lighting was good but the group I was with didn’t really allow for me to whip out my iPhone and capture food images. I admit, I haven’t really come out to this group of friends that I am an amateur food blogger.
At present I’m in Adelaide waiting for a flight to Canberra. I love visiting Darwin and catching up with friends. I love Darwin. If you’ve never been there you should visit and stay for a while.
A park in the waterfront precinct just before arriving at the convention centre.
Conference lunch
My lunch on the flight flying from Darwin to Adelaide.
The last few days have been fairly busy and on Thursday and Friday I had to be in Brisbane for an important meeting.
On Wednesday I forgot my lunch and after a frantic morning I was in a café and spied a Chiko roll. I haven’t had one in years. My maternal grandfather‘s brother told me many times when I was young that our family had somehow been involved in the invention of the Chiko roll. At the time they owned a Chinese café at a truck stop in Rocklea in Brisbane. They used to sell these super large spring rolls mostly composed of cabbage and chicken. They sold them as chicken rolls. Mum and her brother have confirmed this story for me. They claim someone got the idea for the Chiko roll from my grandparents chiekn rolls at the Golden Pagoda in Rocklea. The Golden Pagoda was destroyed in the great flood of 1974 and the loss destroyed my grandparents and immediate family. They never really recovered.
Later that afternoon a work mate said she was going out to get some chocolate and I asked her get me some. I love my work mates. They know me. Look at what came back
Check out the size of the block.
That night I didn’t feel that hungry but had some chicken thigh meat thawing (and no I didn’t eat all that chocolate in one sitting).
The chicken burgers were tasty, you can see I used an English muffin for one and a hamburger roll for the other.
The next morning I woke up early for a 0620 AEST flight from Canberra to Brisbane. I like that the Qantas Club has breakfast.
On board the flight I had another breakfast.
I spent Thursday night in my hotel room working. The view of the Brisbane River from the twenty-fifth floor was pretty good.
I went and bought a couple of hot pies and an apple crumble to get me through the night.
In the morning the view was better. I left Brisbane in 1995 to live in Darwin until coming to Canberra in 2007. Brisbane city has certainly grown.
Look at the huge tree. they are amazing. I love them.
I indulged in a Starbucks breakfast of toast and a caramel mocha with cream.
So on the way back to Canberra I spent time chatting with a work mate and eating.
The pork buns here were crap. They are from the Sydney Qantas club and rubbish. You want to see a nice barbecue pork bun go to the Dumpling Inn. Check out the image here.
The soup was a spicy Mexican lentil dish.
On Saturday we went to Costco to buy some food. I hadn’t had lunch. I tried a Costco hot dog. It wasn’t that good.
For afternoon tea we went to Ricardo’s Cafe at Jamison and had a caramel praline mousse.
Last night Bron and I cooked dinner together. I cooked a steak with an onion dijon sauce and Bron cooked the cauliflower blue cheese gratin. The gratin was amazing. I ate two. I wanted more.
Bron cooked a caramel chocolate tart and a lemon tart for dessert. They were out of this world. Bron is amazing.
Caramel chocolate tart
Lemon tart
This morning we went light and had a poached egg before our big lunch.
